Prior art syntheses of 3-amino-5-methylpyrazole start from hydrazine hydrate and 3-aminocrotononitrile (Japanese Patent Application 63239272; Derwent OD-326015/88) or from 2-iminobutyronitrile (Soviet Patent No. 1413106; Derwent OD-038663/89). The starting materials for these known processes are difficult to obtain or chemically unstable, and the methods themselves are multistage, complicated syntheses with insufficient yields.